Mr.Farah,
Regarding your column “Mega-pastor to Christians: 10 Commandments don’t apply to you!“:
Like you, I believe the Ten Commandments do apply to Christians; how could they not? However, I don’t understand why you are surprised that a so-called Christian pastor would say such a thing.
Martin Luther was, and is, applauded for his criticism of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, what people fail to recognize, or simply ignore, is Luther’s assertion that every man can read the Bible and interpret scripture how he sees fit.
Protestants mock the Catholic notion of ‘Tradition,’ stating that we should only look to the Bible for inspiration and salvation. Sacred Scripture reminds us again and again that Jesus performed miracles that were not included in the Bible; were they any less significant because they were not codified in the pages of the New Testament? Of course not.
Further, just as the notes taken from the Founding Fathers who participated in our Constitutional Convention shed light on the ‘original intent’ of our founders, so too does tradition act as a guide to Sacred Scripture. What the Protestants don’t recognize is that ‘Tradition’ allows us to put the Biblical text into context, just as the notes of our founders puts the Constitution into context all these years later. Without context and with the urging of that ‘respected’ theologian, Luther, who told us to interpret Scripture for ourselves, we shouldn’t be surprised when so-called Christian remove all that is Christian from their teachings. It is inevitable.
The Bible is a difficult book to understand. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. Yes, anyone who cracks open the Bible will get something out of it. That’s a given. But as the saying goes, ‘Even the Devil can quote the Bible for his own ends.’
Until Protestants reject Luther’s notion that anyone can interpret the Bible how they see fit, we will continue to see so-called pastors ignoring the word of God and replacing it with their own version of salvation.
Peter Giannotti
